Holy Shit, Ava DuVernay is Directing DC's New Gods Movie

DuVernay will helm New Gods—based on Jack Kirby’s legendary pantheon of gods created in the ‘70s for DC Comics that includes characters like Darkseid, Orion, Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and more. Of course, this won’t be the first time that the DC movieverse has dipped into Kirby’s creations—after all Steppenwolf, one of Darkseid’s lieutenants, and his quest for the all-powerful Mother Boxes were a driving part of last year’s Justice League movie. DuVernay sneakily acknowledged the news on social media while accepting a thanks from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins about A Wrinkle in Time, promising to “look forward to seeing [her] around the block soon:”

Designed #WRINKLEINTIME especially for our young ones, Patty. So his response thrills me. Thanks for taking your sweet boy. Look forward to seeing you around the block soon, lady. xo https://t.co/3MUGPV8fHH

The movie will mark a big change in scope for Warner Bros.’s DC movie universe, which has largely kept itself to the Earth-based activities of DC’s most famous heroes. According to Variety, New Gods will apparently serve as the basis for a new range of cosmic DC films, spinning out of the long-running conflict between the cosmic worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips.

DuVernay just came off the back of Disney’s Wrinkle in Time adaptation, which, even in the most mixed of reviews, was praised for its lavish visual spectacle—making her an ideal pick for the cosmic weirdness of Kirby’s vast cast of characters. The director herself has actually previously hinted at her desire to see the New Gods come to the big screen, tweeting late last year about her love for Big Barda, a former member of Darkseid’s female-band of warriors known as the Furies who escaped Apokolips to be with her future husband, Mister Miracle: